My two cents is that this survey is not very helpful, except for a sentence or two at the bottom that says, “Americans across the political and religious landscape agree that the federal budget is a moral document that reflects our national priorities.” We can separate church and state, but we cannot strip economics of its foundations and hope to have a just, equitable, fair society. In my book, Repurposing Capital, I make the point that our modern economic systems have lost their moral moorings.

So, is this survey helpful? A USA Today article seems to be generating some discussion with polarized responses, perhaps reflecting the underlying confusion about the difference between capitalism and materialism. From a data perspective, I am not convinced the survey is useful; from the perspective of fostering the public discussion, I like it.

The title Man of Peace was created in 1999 by the annual World Summit of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates in Rome. The purpose of the award is to recognize individuals who have offered “an outstanding contribution to international social justice and peace”.  An initiative by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, himself a winner of a Nobel Peace Prize, the award is presented in Rome’s Campidoglio (Capitoline Hill) by President Gorbachev, Walter Veltroni, Mayor of Rome, and the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates attending the annual summit meeting.

You will find some strange bedfellows on the list: FW de Klerk, Bono, Yusuf Islam (aka Cat Stevens) and Shimon Peres. This might leave you scratching your head as to the real meaning of a “man of peace.” Well, the phrase has its origin about 1999 years before 1999 when Jesus Christ gave his disciples a tip about who to look out for when they entered a city.

“If a man of peace is there…”

How did Jesus come up with this notion? What characteristics did he see in a man (nowadays we would say Person) of peace? What sets People of Peace apart from the rest of us?

Predictably, I have identified 10 Characteristics of a Person of Peace. I will blog about these, one characteristic at a time, in the days to come. Stay posted.

Has it ever struck you that what we think about at night is an indicator of who we are? Somehow the night has a knack of stripping away bravado, tearing the pajamas off false confidences. It leaves our mind naked and, when our clever defenses are asleep, our true thoughts emerge. When we let the sun go down on our unresolved items, they become poking sticks in the hands of the night watchmen. That’s the bad news.

The good news is this: God is not sleeping while we sleep. He is active on our behalf, and sometimes he is active in our minds, our spirits, and our hearts even as we sleep. He gives us dreams that speak warning or encouragement to us. He uses the symbolism of things to steel us against danger, distractions or discouragement.

God also inhabits our waking moments with solutions to problems. I used to wake and go from 0 to 60 m.p.h in a few seconds; now I try to lie in bed a few extra moments listening for the whispers of God in the morning mist. If this sounds vague to you, it is. But I often find that the answer to something I have been contemplating pops into my mind just as I am waking. Sometimes it has even been in a dream which I need to recall.

I don’t go to bed with a To Do list to dream about: that would be counterproductive. I don’t even keep a note book next to my bed to write down brilliant ideas—I keep earplugs in my ears and a mask over my eyes to stop brilliant ideas. Nonetheless, God has a way of sneaking through, and I relate to what the psalmist says, “I think of you through the watches of the night.”

What we think about at night starts with what we do during the day. We cannot be lovers by night and laggards by day.

God—you’re my God! I can’t get enough of you! I’ve worked up such hunger and thirst for God,       traveling across dry and weary deserts.  So here I am in the place of worship, eyes open, drinking in your strength and glory. In your generous love I am really living at last! My lips brim praises like fountains. I bless you every time I take a breath; My arms wave like banners of praise to you. I eat my fill of prime rib and gravy; I smack my lips. It’s time to shout praises! If I’m sleepless at midnight, I spend the hours in grateful reflection. (The Message – Psalm 63:1-6)

Start your night today.

This past  year or more I have been doing extensive research into interest-free finance: it is more than an interesting topic. There are proponents for zero interest on different sides of the religious spectrum, and some proposals, such as that from the Central Bank of Nigeria, appear to be non-partisan, but usually have a tilt towards one religion or another. But is “interest-free” actually mandated by scripture? Is it practical? When it is practiced today, is the just interest hidden away under another name? And is there a better way to look at the characteristics of faith-based financing without making “interest-free” the litmus test? I guess we will have to wait for the book, Repurposing Capital.

What does the big-church-small-faith-mindset do to avoid risk? (Note: this happens even in small churches.) The key is to dumb down the programs to a mental age of 19-and-a-half, present concepts in four minute sound bites, and, whatever you do, don’t ask too much of the attendees. If you ask too much, people will feel imposed upon, will not come back, and will not invite their seekerish friends (which they won’t do anyway, but you don’t want to be the one to give them grumbling ammunition).

Another way to mitigate risk is to import a “sure thing” program from a big-name speaker. Get good coffee and a live feed (which usually is fake-live, otherwise known as dead) from a mega-(successful)-church, and you are good to go. If the program is a flop, blame it on the national celebrity preacher. In business we used to say, “No one ever got fired for buying IBM computers.” In the church world we say, “No one ever got fired for streaming in Bill Graham / Bill Hybels / Bill Johnson / Bill Whoever.”

The really big way to avoid risk is the most obvious: let the main pastor come up with all of the ideas! That way, they are guaranteed support. With the right executive sponsor (in some cases, the only executive sponsor) it will be a sure thing. Even if it fails, it won’t be a failure: it will be a PR opportunity for Pastor Bill to show he is humble, just a mere mortal like you and me.

What do we learn from this? Church is not a good place to exercise faith. You can talk about it in the sanctuary, but only try it when you get home please; and don’t mess with the church programs.

PS: There is one time when you are free to exercise faith at church—-when the offering plate comes around.

This morning I was catching up on reading psalms that correlate to the date and got to Psalm 23. At the high level I saw three themes that sum  up life.

(1) The Lord is.

(2) Even though.

(3) Surely.

We begin with God, who is he is, what  he is like: this is where, internally at least, we lie down. The middle part says, “Life will have its rough parts that we pass through.” We don’t stay in the valley, but go there to do things and come back. Finally, our life is vacuum sealed, tightly hemmed in, no gaps left for the enemy: “Surely goodness and love will follow me” –not debt and doubt and distress–”and I will dwell in the house of the Lord.” This is not a physical place; we are not camping in the church parking lot. It is where God’s presence daily hovers over us, encamps around us, fills our household.

May your year be vacuum sealed.

Part of my challenge is that I rejoice in the wrong things. I rejoice in the temporary, the changeable. Psalm 21 says:

The king rejoices in your strength, LORD.

How great is his joy in the victories you give!

What victories did you get in 2010? King David did not list money, relationships, or fame. He celebrated:

• Being welcomed by GOD himself
• Life
• Length of days
• Eternal blessings
• Gladness
• The joy of God’s presence
• Unfailing love
• A crown of gold
• Not being shaken. (Who thought about being shaken a year ago?)

As I read David’s list I reflected on 2010; my friends and I have seen and experienced all of these things: check, check, check! David then sums it up:

Be exalted in your strength, LORD;
we will sing and praise your might.

Let’s end 2010 celebrating the strength of God, his might. These are indisputable, unchangeable, reliable, beyond any negative influence, and untouched by our sense of worth. God’s strength and might are absolute, unshakable, and eternal: the Big Guy is on your side! This is truly something to rejoice in.

Know my anxious thoughts. Psalm 139:23

Sometimes the motivation for the psalm is not revealed until the end. Have you ever wondered whether God is still with you? Have you been flummoxed about the progress of your enemies, while you have languished in mediocrity? Or have you found yourself at the other end of the world and wondered how you got there? Has your career tacked from left to right without seeming to arrive at the port? Have you wondered why you are not rolling in money when you are being obedient? These, and others like them, fall in the category of “anxious thoughts.” You can deny them, or you can ask God to know them. “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.”

Before asking God to poke around in our worried minds, however, we would do well to meditate on some key truths:

• “O Lord, you have searched me and you know me.” We may surprise ourselves sometimes, but we do not surprise God one little bit. He knows us inside and out.
• “You know when I sit and when I rise.” He knows when you are pacing the floor, when you are up and down with worry.
• “You perceive my thoughts from afar.” ‘Hmmm, I wonder what Brett is thinking right now?’ He knows, he gets you.
• “You discern my going out and my lying down.” You might ask, ‘How did I end up here?’ but he discerns your going out. You might want to give up, but he knows when you want to lie down…and knows how to get you going again.
• “You are familiar with all my ways.” He knows how you like your coffee, where your mind wonders, and the wiring of the synapses of your brain. He knows how you long for significance, and how you pluck your eyebrows. He is familiar with all your ways.
• “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.”

You are what God is thinking about: what are you thinking about? The antidote to your anxious thoughts is thinking less about you and more about God. It is knowing, no matter where you are, you can never flee from his presence: the heavens, the depths, the dawn, the far side of the sea… “even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.” This knowledge is an antidote to anxiety: God gets me, and his presence covers me. His hand holds me fast, no matter where I am.

Application

• He is familiar with your ways: Are you familiar with his ways?
• The psalmist gives God’s thoughts much more airtime than his own: are you focused on God’s amazing love, or on your situation? How can you redirect your mind to better things?

Miracles can be a good thing, but they are not inconsequential. Miracles can get us out of a pickle, but they can also create their own dilemma. Miracles can be just what gets us out of trouble, and exactly what condemns us. Watch out for miracles. To understand this let’s unpack Psalm 66 a little, starting in the middle of the conundrum.

5 Come and see what God has done, how awesome his works in man’s behalf!

6 He turned the sea into dry land, they passed through the waters on foot—

come, let us rejoice in him.

7 He rules forever by his power, his eyes watch the nations—

let not the rebellious rise up against him.
The first dilemma with miracles is this: some see them and rejoice: “Shout with joy to God…come and see!” But others see the miracle, for some reason cannot accept it, and they rebel: “let not the rebellious rise up against him.”  Jesus had the same challenge with religious people who said, ‘Show us a miracle and we will believe.’ He showed them plenty of miracles and they killed him. There is no automatic path from miracle to belief / rejoicing.

Jesus went so far as to say, in effect, ‘If you see miracles and don’t believe, you have a greater responsibility before God.’ In Luke 10 he said it this way:  “Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you.”

It gets worse when the miracle is preceded by us being in trouble, and making vows to God: ‘If you send a miracle, I will do XX.’ In Psalm 66: 10-12 they were in trouble including testing, refining and prison. They cried out to God, they made vows (not recommended), and he answered. “I will come…and fulfill my vows…promised…when I was in trouble.”  To sum up: Trouble + miracle + rejoicing = good. Trouble + vow + miracle + rebellion=bad.

Watch out for miracles, because when they come—and they will—we have to respond properly.

Shout with joy…say to God, “How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power”

Application

• How often do you ask for miracles? Why, why not?
• When God does miracles, do you lean towards rejoicing or rebellion? (Maybe not a full-on temper tantrum, like Jonah, but perhaps just a cynical discounting of what God did.)

Actually, ten years ago I was in a desert of sorts, and a pretty severe one.  About this time in 2001 we had given notice on our office, had to be out of our rental house in a week with nowhere to go, our revenue had dried up, a group of staff had left and started up a consulting firm that competed with us (and they were doing fine), and I wasn’t sure if we had enough money to keep the remaining staff. It was a Friday afternoon and we were about to sign a lease on another house when I received an email from Frank. “I saw the house you should rent. It doesn’t look like any of the ones you have told me you are pursuing.” On the way over to sign the lease I called Frank. “Where did you see the house?”  That’s when it got interesting.

Frank, an out of work engineer, was praying. He saw a vision… a clear as daylight picture of a house. He was shocked, and stopped praying. But every time he prayed again, he saw the house. His wife thought he was losing it. I trusted him enough to not sign the lease. It was the Friday before Thanksgiving 2001. We had to move the next Friday, and we had scoured the real estate prospects, and there seemed to be nothing that would work.

The next day our realtor called and said a house had just been listed. We took the address and drove over to see it. Lyn, my wife, said to me, “Call Frank!” When Frank came over he confirmed that it was the house he had seen. We were moved in a week later. It was wonderful provision in the nick of time, but were were not yet out of the desert. (In my book, Convergence, I speak about a season in life called The University of the Desert.)

The next year or so we bumbled along with a few clients, but lost our staff, had a lawsuit regarding a book we published, legal bills were mounting, and a prospect we had worked on for years was going nowhere. A while before, a major client had gone bankrupt and reneged on their bills, and we had other financial setbacks. One day Lyn concluded this must be God: not even the devil is so smart to make so much go so wrong so quickly.

In the midst of the malaise we served where opportunities presented themselves, and we started a new format for rēp, the work of repurposing business. We did not tackle an altruistic task out of our plenty; we started with nothing, and continued that way. Perhaps we served our way out of the desert; perhaps we received favor. It seems, in retrospect, that we simply got on with the next thing we felt we should be doing, regardless of whether it kept us in the desert or led us into a new season.

Where were we ten years ago? We were hearing the moving company say, “You gave us the “from” address–where is the “to” address?” and we could not answer them. We were trying to find a house/office for a staff we were not sure we would be keeping. We were driving around San Carlos, Redwood City, Woodside and anywhere else that seemed remotely possible looking for houses with For Rent signs. And we were on the eve of a miracle.